


I don't need a voice (to tell you it's nice to meet you)

by TitaniaSarys



Series: Deaf Zelda and Mute Link AU [1]
Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: F/M, Mute Link, Pre-Calamity (Legend of Zelda), Pre-Calamity Ganon, alternative universe, deaf Zelda, learning to trust each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:21:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25117576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TitaniaSarys/pseuds/TitaniaSarys
Summary: "Learning to trust each other through signs and body language" + "Link messy signing when he’s flustered and Zelda trembling signing when she cries" prompts from abithalyndrakonclaw's tumblr post about Deaf Zelda and Mute Link AU.
Relationships: Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Series: Deaf Zelda and Mute Link AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1819357
Comments: 2
Kudos: 104





	I don't need a voice (to tell you it's nice to meet you)

**Author's Note:**

> I just fell in love with abithalyndrakonclaw's prompts (https://abithalyndrakonclaw.tumblr.com/post/189599170187/deaf-zelda-and-mute-link-au?is_related_post=1) and just had to write something about it. I've never written based on prompts before, so let me know what you think about it. All the passages in italics are signed, the dialogues will be written properly in quotes.
> 
> Also, I don't know sign language or how a deaf or mute person feels like therefore I apologize for any mistakes I made. But please let me know so I can improve my writing and not make those mistakes again.

If it wasn’t for all the etiquette that had been shoved down her throat since she was three, she would already have thrown half her furniture across the room. How could he? She wasn’t a child anymore, she could make her own decisions, go on her own adventures. She didn’t need a knight.

A knight would only slow her down. He might tamper with her research. He might prevent her from going to the places she needed to go and do the things she needed to do. Her research was important and needed some risks. They would have never discovered the Divine Beasts and Guardians without it. The Champions wouldn’t have been able to control them if they haven’t tried to do it.

But her father insisted and you never say no to the King. Especially when he was your father.

As Zelda made her way down the stairs of the throne room, she smiled. It would take time to train the knight, he couldn’t just start following her around. Her father wanted her to be as safe as she could be and that meant her being able to communicate effectively with her protector and vice versa. Yes, training would take time. Zelda had still some weeks, maybe months, to do her research in peace, assuming her father allowed her to leave the castle at all.

When she arrived at the midway landing, she noticed her father talking to someone below. A young man was standing in front of him, the blue of his tunic screaming his position. Her knight was already there.

As she made her way down the last steps, her hand gliding over the stone railing, she looked at the knight. She couldn’t hear what her father was saying, nor could she read his lips from this angle. The knight seemed to listen intently, his face showing signs of deep focus. But at the same time, she had the feeling he was aware of everything else going on around him.

All her life Zelda had been very aware of people’s body language. Her father’s usual tense and strong presence, muscles taunt and straight posture that commanded as much respect as his booming voice (she had never heard it but she assumed it was booming). Her mother’s soft touch on her shoulders or the small of her back when she shyly refused to go somewhere, the tickle of her breath behind her ears when she tried to coax her into going to bed, her perfume and warmth that lulled her to sleep. And then the cold absence, the icy wind of grief on her shoulders like a deadly blanket, the shivers at every turn, the rigidity of her childhood since that day forward, the countless nights spent pouring her soul over research papers and books until curiosity replaced the numbing busyness.

It was strange, but she was ready to bet the knight would be able to react in the exact second something happened. He didn’t startle when she stopped behind him. Instead he turned towards her and bowed without a word. She frowned. Where did the formal greeting go? Maybe he had been briefed not to say it. It’s not as if Zelda could hear it anyway. But usually people still spoke to her out of habit or respect. After all, who would remember their princess was deaf?

Her father turned to her and signed at the same time he spoke:

_Zelda, I want you to meet your knight._

She took a deep breath, straightening herself to match her father’s stiffness and pole-like stance.

_But father, doesn’t he need to know sign language before that? Surely you’d want someone perfectly capable of communicating with me on every level,_ Zelda signed back.

Something glinted in her father’s eyes. It looked suspiciously like amusement.

_Why don’t you introduce yourself_ , her father signed to the knight.

At Zelda’s greatest surprise, the knight signed back.

_As you wish your Highness._ He then turned to her. _It is a pleasure to meet you, Princess Zelda. My name is Link._

She watched his hands closely. He signed with ease and grace, as if he had practiced it for years. She realized bitterly it was as good as hers.

Frustrated that her father managed to appoint her a shadow that fast, she quickly signed a greeting in return, with all the finesse of etiquette, and left to pout in her room.

▲

▲▲

She hadn’t meant to snap at him.

Truth be told, she was mad at her father for hindering her research, for not believing in it, for pushing her towards something she was masterfully failing at. She had prayed every single day of her life since she was strong enough to kneel on her own and form clear thoughts in her head. She had prayed countless times to every statue of the goddess in Hyrule Castle, even the ones in Castle Town. She hadn’t been able to go to the sacred springs yet, because it was too dangerous to go that far without an escort. Maybe someday, if she didn’t unlock her powers before that.

Link had been patient. He turned out to be a very cheerful and talkative person, at least with her. She knew where he came from. Her parents were the only ones able to sign perfectly. Impa and Purah were great at it as well but they had to learn after a while, they didn’t have to adapt since day one. She was like him in a way.

From what Link had told her, his mom taught him how to sign and write. Zelda was actually impressed he could write so beautifully. She hadn’t expected him to be as good at something else as he was with a sword. But Link proved her wrong time and time again, always silent (not that she could hear him or that he could speak) and patient, his eyes never judging.

But she had snapped at him while he was only doing his duty.

She couldn’t get the image of the bodies of those Yiga assassins out of her mind and kept stumbling over her own feet as they made their way across the desert, Link walking one foot in front of her, his sword drawn, not on edge but ready to strike at a moment’s notice. She watched his back and imagined the muscles underneath his shirt, he didn’t seem tense at all.

She had noticed a slight change in this fight. They had been traveling for a few weeks now, only recently leaving the Tabantha region to head towards Gerudo to check on how Urbosa was doing. Her research had met a dead end with those weird Sheikah structures and she had snapped at Link, had signed angrily at him to leave her alone and stop following her. But he did follow her and he had just saved her life. She had barely signed a trembling _thank you_ when he was helping her to her feet and signing they should get going.

This time, there had been resolve carved all over his features, on his face, in the way he held his sword, the clenching of his jaw, the spacing of his feet, the way his boots crunched on the sand. She didn’t know how, but she knew in that moment that he would protect her with his life. It seemed logical in hindsight, he was her knight after all, that was his job. But to actually see him do it, to realize it so brutally as if she had been slapped, that was different.

As she was rehearsing an apology speech in her head, her fingers itching to sign, she stumbled on bare sand. Link’s hand steadied her before she even realized what had happened.

_Sorry_ , she signed.

_It’s fine_ , he signed back. He looked at the horizon and pointed at the tall stone of the inn of Kara Kara Bazaar. As he stood there watching, she could picture the gears turning in his head. She knew he was about to make an important decision regarding them both.

_We should spend the night there_ , he signed.

She looked around. There weren’t far from Gerudo Town but she didn’t feel like walking all that way after sunset. Besides, Link would have to stay outside of town as voe were not permitted inside the city walls and she felt he deserved to rest, preferably in a bed instead of bare sand.

She nodded and they set off. They checked in with the innkeeper and sat outside, feet in the water of the pond and slices of hydromelons resting between them. Most people had gone off to sleep and the only lights were coming from the torches lit up across the bazaar. Zelda waited for the Gerudo guard to make her round behind them before she put down what remained of her hydromelon slice and signed.

_I’m sorry I snapped at you the other day. It wasn’t fair to you; you were only doing your job._

He tilted his head to the side, arms resting behind him as he gently lifted one leg up and down, creating waves in the water.

_It’s alright_ , he signed back.

She felt like crying in frustration.

_No it’s not!_ Her hands trembled as she signed. _I should be…_

_Princess_ , he interrupted her. Her fingers stopped moving. The water around her calves suddenly felt ice cold.

_It’s alright to be frustrated or angry_ , he continued. Then he smiled and she was at a loss for what to sign. Here he was nice to her whereas she had been an absolute nightmare since the day he had been appointed her knight, treating him like an unwanted puppy following her along.

She took a deep breath. _Still, I’m sorry_.

His smile deepened. _Stop apologizing_.

_Then stop calling me Princess_ , was her immediate response. She blushed so hard after that, not knowing what had possessed her to sign such an inappropriate thing. She noticed Link blushed as well and his signs became a little messy.

_What should I call you then?_

_Zelda. Just Zelda_.

He glanced at the dark horizon, as if he was seeing something past the sand storm that raged most of the day near the foot of Gerudo Highlands. Then he turned to her and signed _deal_.

She smiled in return and lay on her back, watching the stars emerge from their slumber as the sky gradually darkened.

Maybe they would be alright after all.


End file.
